I'm Moving On
by Amiko-san
Summary: When all you can see are the years passing by - When you've loved like you should, but lived like you shouldn't - Finally content with a life you regret - Maybe forgiveness will find you somewhere down this road."


Disclaimer: I don't own DBGT or any lyrics from Rascal Flatts.

A/N: ACK! This was erased somehow...wouldn't go to the page right. And it showed some weird thing about it being the wrong URL, and the reviews I got were messed up. Oh well, we'll try it again.

Okay, bear with me. I'm not in a good mood, haven't been for days. Then a friend of mine let me listen to this song and (being as obsessed as I am) I thought it was nearly a perfect representation of Piccolo's life. Aside from just two lines at the very end, which I will extract, it was perfect…absolutely ideal. Short and angsty, just so you know.

So, bear with me, I've never written a song fic before, and to be honest I don't know just how good I'll be at this. And, should anyone like this enough to actually listen to it for yourself, be warned now: it's completely Country music (which, I know is not always popular outside of the South).

Copyright "I'm Moving On", by Rascal Flatts.

Setting: This is the episode in DBGT where Piccolo has to give Goku some of his own ki energy so the Saiyan can teleport back to the last ship leaving the planet. The Black Star dragonballs have been used, andso the Earth will explode because of all the negative energy it is now being exposed to. Piccolo has decided to stay on Earth as the explosion takes place, so that the Black Star dragonballs (which are connected to him and Kami) will be destroyed also. This is my opinion of what was going through Piccolo's mind as he awaited his inevitable death.

I'm Moving On

"**I've dealt with my ghosts **

**and I've faced all my demons,**

**finally content with a past I regret…"**

Piccolo stood anchored down, both unmoving and unwilling to move. He stared dumbly at the vast expanse of nothingness that surrounded him. Nothing, there was nothing for him now. Not now, not ever. What else could he do to seek retribution? What else could be done to ease his soul?

He'd thought once that his entire fate rested in the defeat of Goku, his enemy. Ah, but the Saiyan was no longer his enemy. Not since Piccolo had come to terms with himself and his feelings for…him. For that little boy who'd too quickly become a man. The boy that, in his younger years, had favored Piccolo in a way the warrior could have only ever dreamed possible.

What happened to that little boy?

"**I've found you find strength**

**in your moments of weakness.**

**For once I'm at peace with myself…"**

Life happened. Piccolo was once the child's mentor and best friend, but life took over and snatched Gohan away from him. He'd loved that boy like a son. No, more than that. They were linked, the two of them, in a way not even the closest of mates could compare to. Not that he longed for Gohan, his student. But he longed for the companionship the boy had offered.

Companionship. That was a feeling Piccolo had long since learned to live without. Loneliness was now his companion, his only companion, and that was a paradox Piccolo didn't wish to try and explain. But, it was better than hatred and contempt. At least, in a way, Piccolo had found some small measure of reconciliation…even peace.

It didn't matter anymore, nothing could reverse his decision this time. Not even Gohan. He was ready for death now, ready for the ultimate rest. It was time to put an end to his uselessness. His past would not get the better of him this time, he'd gotten beyond all of his sins. Surely, his good finally outweighed his bad.

"**I've been burdened with blame, **

**trapped in the past for too long**

**I'm moving on."**

Yes. It was time to move on, and certainly time to put Earth and the life he knew behind him. Gohan had a family, a new and better life. The man was happy, and rarely gave his sensei a second glance or passing thought.

But Piccolo wasn't angry with his younger friend. Not resentful, not bitter. Nothing. He was nothing but glad that Gohan had found a life that suited him so well. Is that normal? He should have been hurt, shouldn't he? He should have been furious, or offended for being forgotten, or _something._ But he wasn't, he was just…content. Gohan's happiness made him content.

"**I've lived in this place **

**and I know all the faces,**

**each one is different **

**but they're always the same…"**

Who would miss him? Who would be sad that he was gone? Aside from Gohan, and maybe Goku, he doubted anyone else would. Come now, he'd known these people for decades, but had anyone other than Gohan ever cared to try and find him? To talk to him? Visit at all? No, not that he was a welcome-mat for visitors, but he would have remembered the gesture.

"**They mean me no harm **

**but it's time that I face it,**

**They'll never allow me to change…"**

Piccolo smirked. He still scared them, most of them, to some degree. The old hermit, the bald monk, the blue haired scientist, the harpy devil-woman, and even the less involved warriors: Yamcha, Tien and Chautzu. All of them were intimidated, if not even frightened by him. His presence demanded their either respect or fear, and Piccolo was never completely sure which it was.

At first, that was not a problem. He didn't care that they feared him, or didn't trust him. It didn't bother him, until much later. Now, they trusted him. Trusted him enough to lay their lives in his hands, but never on purpose. Always because it was a last resort, or a means to an end.

Gohan, though, he'd always trusted him. Always given him the benefit of a doubt. They boy's life was in Piccolo's hands, to do with as he wished. That was friendship, true friendship. Did Piccolo have that with anyone else?

Goku was a close second, the Saiyan seemed to trust everyone though. Even Vegeta had ended up on the Saiyan's friendly list. Shame, though, Piccolo didn't think he was half bad a person anymore.

"**I never dreamed home **

**would end up where I don't belong**

**I'm moving on."**

Home. Where was Piccolo's home? The cave, or the waterfall, or even the lookout? Where he spent most of his time, where he meditated, or where he trained?

Or was home were the heart is? In that case, his home was with the Sons…one of them anyway. Sure he liked the rest, dared even say he loved them in his own, odd way. But Gohan held his affection like no other. So, if his heart was anywhere then it was with Gohan, his first friend. And his closest by far.

Feh, he had to stop thinking about that boy. He didn't belong in Gohan's life now, he was a memory. Just a reminder of how things had been years ago. So many years ago.

"**At last I can see life **

**has been patiently waiting for me,**

**And I know there's no guarantees, **

**but I'm not alone…"**

Not alone. At least, not completely. He always had Kami and Nail to keep him company, to a certain degree. Once this life was over Piccolo wondered just where he was going to end up. In his first death he'd barely escaped hell, purgatory, HFIL, the Inferno. Too many names for the same place, all meaning suffering. Many would run from death if they knew they had the slightest of chances to go to that place.

But Piccolo wouldn't run. If he was sentenced to damnation then, that's where he needed to be. If he somehow made it to one of the Kai's planets then, he'd be grateful. Heaven, though, that was nearly unfathomable. Paradise? He didn't belong there, not among the souls of those who'd been pure all their lives. Innocent and honest, those were not two of his noteworthy traits.

But neither was he prepared to stay on Earth, or to stay alive. He would help everyone by dying, giving his life yet again for this planet and those he cared for. But he would not stand idly by and watch the lives of others play in front of him like a slideshow. He couldn't do it, he couldn't tolerate sitting by and letting everyone grow old and die without him.

He couldn't stand to live, only to watch Gohan die, and Goten, and Goku…and eventually Pan. He would long outlast all of them, he was a Namek. To everything there is a time and everyone a season, when enough becomes just that: enough.

"**There comes a time in everyone's life**

**When all you can see **

**are the years passing by,**

**And I have made up my mind **

**that those days are gone…"**

"Gohan." He said, knowing that the distance wouldn't keep his voice from reaching his friend.

"Piccolo? Hey, where are you at?" He asked, happy as ever.

Piccolo hesitated, looking around. He'd never been good at lying to the boy, even under the most dire of circumstances.

"I'm still on Earth, Gohan." He said.

There was a silence, and Piccolo could almost feel the boy shaking his head.

"No, no. You have to tell dad to come get you…there's still time."

"Gohan, listen, this is the way it has to be." Piccolo said. "So long as I live, the Black Star dragon balls can be revived. The Earth will always be in danger if I don't die now."

"But Piccolo-"

"Don't argue with me Gohan. I'm staying." He said, and he paused.

Heat was rising from the ground below him and he knew, without a doubt, these were his last moments on the planet.

"**I've loved like I should **

**but lived like I shouldn't,**

**I had to lose everything to find out**

**Maybe forgiveness will find me **

**somewhere down this road…"**

"Gohan…" Piccolo started again, afraid that if he didn't say this now, he's lose his chance. And if, by some miracle, they did meet up in the afterlife, by then it wouldn't need said.

"I'm proud of you. I always have been. You have become a great warrior, and a scholar. Both make you the person that you are, and I respect you for all the work you do." Piccolo breathed, and he knew Gohan was getting emotional. No matter how old the boy got, he'd forever be his student.

And this hurt worse than it should have, if Piccolo really believing dying was the right thing to do.

"Piccolo, please don't do this." Gohan said, his voice only hitching once.

"Don't be sad Gohan, all will be right in the end." Piccolo said. "Now, say goodbye to me, son."

Gohan faltered. "I can't. I'll do whatever you want me to, just please don't die Piccolo!"

"Gohan, calm down." Piccolo tried to say, but his feet were beginning to feel the effects of a planet about to explode. "Just say goodbye."

Gohan opened his mouth and gapped.

"G-" he started, the licked his lips. "Goodbye, Piccolo."

Piccolo sighed and smiled.

"You know," Gohan said. "You're still my best friend Piccolo, no matter what happens or how long it's been."

Piccolo blinked heavily, making sure the stinging of his eyes was more than just the red-hot ash in the air. He breathed heavily and disconnected himself with Gohan, for the first time in his life…and the last.

"**I'm moving on..."**

Gohan looked up only moments after Piccolo cut their link, and witnessed the largest full-scale explosion he'd ever heard of. The Earth burst into a red-hot flame, sparks flying in millions of directions, some right overhead.

Gohan fell to his knees and hammered his fists against the ground. People circled around him, curious. But he wasn't concerned with them, he just clenched his fists and searched for Piccolo's ki.

There was nothing.

"Piccolo!" Gohan shouted. Only silence remained.

"Piccolo!" He shouted louder, knowing if his sensei could hear him he would answer.

But there was no answer. Piccolo was gone forever.

"**I'm moving on."**


End file.
